European Union

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CPJ calls on Didier Reynders, Belgium's foreign minister, to use his country's presidency at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe--the largest pan-European human rights watchdog--to defend press freedom in Europe, and address violations by members states. CPJ's letter highlights press freedom abuses in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

"With the Islamic state offensive, the Ebola epidemic and Ukraine, Hungary is not on anyone's mind in Europe," mused one of our interlocutors during the Committee to Protect Journalists' fact-finding mission in Budapest in October. "Viktor Orbán has really nothing to fear from Brussels."

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Budapest, October 17, 2014--On a rare mission to a European Union country, a CPJ delegation led by board member Kati Marton was in Hungary this week to meet with journalists, media lawyers, managers, rights defenders, policy analysts, and government officials to discuss Hungary's press freedom record.

"The European Commission expressed serious concern about developments in the area of rule of law and fundamental rights (in Turkey)." It is progress report season in Brussels. As every year in early October, the commissioner in charge of enlargement unveils documents that judge the progress of all candidate countries in adopting European Union (EU) laws and standards, and Turkey is at the forefront.

"This is a new wave of clampdowns by the government--they want to have another four-year term with even less critical media than before," said Szabolcs, a 21-year-old economics student, one of thousands of people who marched in the streets of Budapest in June, chanting "Free Country, Free Press!" The demonstrations were in reaction to several restrictive measures pushed through by Hungary's re-elected government led by the center-right Fidesz party, headed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Prime Minister Renzi: As Italy today takes the rotating presidency of the European Union, we call on your government to abolish criminal libel and bring Italian laws in line with European and international standards.

A new document on freedom
of expression and opinion, adopted May 12 by the 28 foreign ministers of the
European Union, presses nearly all the right buttons. Drawing its inspiration
from international human rights norms as well as from the EU's treaties and its
charter of fundamental rights, the document reaffirms the role of freedom of
opinion and expression as "an essential foundation for democracy, rule of law,
peace, stability, sustainable inclusive development, and participation in
public affairs." It also makes a strong case for free and independent
journalism. The ministers committed the EU and member states to the defense of
journalists' freedom and safety, and endorsed watchdog journalism as a decisive
factor in "uncovering abuses of power, shining a light on corruption, and
questioning received opinion."

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San Francisco, May 13, 2014
-- The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by today's ruling
of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which holds that Internet
search engines can be compelled to remove "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer
relevant" links about an individual, even if the content at the link is true
and legally posted.

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Phoenix, April 8, 2014--The
Committee to Protect Journalists hails today's decision by
the European Court of Justice invalidating the European Union's mandatory data
retention directive.
The court found that the indiscriminate collection of metadata poses a
"particularly serious" and disproportional interference with the right to
privacy. Mass metadata surveillance is "likely to generate in the minds of the
persons concerned the feeling that their private lives are the subject of
constant surveillance," the court said.

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This
summer, for good reason, the world's attention was focused on Turkey. Anti-government protests over plans to
destroy a park in downtown Istanbul attracted global attention. Ankara's
strategic importance in Syria and the Middle East, as well as being a member of
NATO, makes what happens in Turkey important.